Comments on: BART escalators caked in human poohttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html
Brain candy for Happy MutantsMon, 30 Mar 2015 20:24:05 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1By: Daemonworkshttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1492857
Mon, 30 Jul 2012 03:16:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1492857And the most common argument I hear against public washrooms? “We’d have to pay people to clean them”.
]]>By: jellyfishattackhttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1491784
Sat, 28 Jul 2012 06:32:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1491784 Not so in Toronto (Ontario).
]]>By: hexalmhttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1491596
Sat, 28 Jul 2012 00:37:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1491596Well, OBVIOUSLY for YOU it’d be incredibly easy to use a pressure washer with the intricacy required for operations you’re describing, because you know everything–but what good is that to the rest of us know-nothings?

I suspect the result of your suggestion would be as useful as flushing a transmission out with water. Good luck with that.

]]>By: Finnagainhttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1491469
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 22:32:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1491469 ‘Those people’ sound poor. And the poor don’t need to travel about, do they? Can’t they just be poor at home?
]]>By: Antinous / Moderatorhttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1491453
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 22:23:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1491453There are stairs. Unfortunately, those fucking slacker disabled people refuse to use them. Not to mention people with small children, people carrying packages and any other group of lazy-ass fatties. Go figure.
]]>By: doogiehowsahhttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1491337
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 21:02:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1491337Just FYI, I have a sneaking suspicion there’s more to this story. First of all, local blogs like Mission Mission had been reporting on ridiculously lengthy escalator out of service times at Mission stations (one escalator at 16th was out for months and when finally fixed broke again in hours). The story was starting to pick up some media traction, when suddenly the notoriously conservative and homeless-baiting Chronicle gets fed a story that escalators are out of service because of feces, thus causing a cavalcade of disgust and anti-poor/inner-city/homeless sentiment to come crashing down, obliterating the original story of BART ignoring City stations.

The thing is, BART has a long, awful history of poor treatment of its urban stations at the expense of its suburban stations, and their defense of this inequality has always been astonishingly, blatantly classist, and by implication, racist: a response from a BART board member to a complaint I made years ago about the state of 16th St Station infrastructure was met with the response that improvements were useless because “those people” treated the station so badly. Of course, issues like the inadequate fare gates and the single overcrowded escalator to the station platform show BART prejudice that has little to do with how inner city riders behave.

Moreover, of course we all know about BART’s recent trouble with, you know, shooting people, and unilaterally switching off cell phone service to prevent people from protesting about that, and lying about it. So BART has a history of, well, sneakiness, at best. It would be great if rather than just parroting an obviously spoon-fed story to the Chronicle meant to grab gross-out headlines, somebody responsible like Boing Boing actually looked into this to see how BART treats its inner city stations and why it counters bad press with homeless-baiting, um, crap.

]]>By: gjashleyhttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1491259
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 20:16:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1491259Yes investment is needed, and I’m a BART fan … but can you stand there with your hand on your heart and state that BART is ran as efficeintly as it possibly could be?
For example, some agencies contract out vertical/horzontal transportation maintenance to companies who do that as a core business, and it usually leads to greater value and better customer service.
]]>By: EHhttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1491065
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 18:11:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1491065As far as the Montgomery station goes, the walls at the top of the escalator lend pretty much the only privacy in the area.
]]>By: mcheshirehttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1491060
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 18:09:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1491060Maybe I’m reaching here. The simplest solution may be to replace said escalator with umm… I don’t know… stairs? Could this be a solution for the obesity problem in the country as well? Put every fast food joint ten stories up.
]]>By: EHhttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1491056
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 18:07:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1491056Crimony, I’m not suggesting a nuclear sandblaster. However, I am making an assumption that variable pressure would be available, though from these responses I’m not sure it’s been invented yet.
]]>By: GawainLavershttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1491031
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 17:54:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1491031It’s what happens when your operating budget doesn’t track usage or inflation, and when no one accounts for a surge in maintenance costs once a system reaches end of life. BART is sorely due replacing, but I can’t imagine a project of that scope being accomplished ever again in the US.
]]>By: gjashleyhttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1490928
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 16:48:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1490928San Francisco smells of wee, occasionally poop.
BART escalators fail regularly. I started taking pictures of failed escalators, but gave up because it seemed a daily occurrence. http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=9959745@N02&q=BART#page=0 .
Only a fraction of it can be blamed on poop, generally it’s very poor management and maintenance of assets … which is what happens when you hate your customers.
]]>By: Diogeneshttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1490882
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 16:21:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1490882 Then pull a Poppy.
]]>By: Eric Hunthttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1490769
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 15:06:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1490769 The escalators are shut down overnight. The bottom of the escalator leading from the street to the mezzanine is one of the most private spots on Market or Mission from 1-4am.
]]>By: Diogeneshttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1490747
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 14:51:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1490747 The 6 Walmart heirs hold more wealth than 42% of Americans combined. But the problem with America is those inconsiderate people who don’t have a roof over their heads or a place to crap.
]]>By: Diogeneshttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1490740
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 14:47:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1490740I got the impression they were crapping elsewhere in the underground, and it was getting tracked onto the escalators where it gets scraped off the shoes of travelers. Actually crapping on the escalator would require better timing than most of us can muster! Do the homeless eat a lot of fiber?
]]>By: Diogeneshttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1490735
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 14:44:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1490735But wouldn’t that encourage the disabled to become pimps?
]]>By: Diogeneshttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1490721
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 14:39:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1490721 Management isn’t cleaning the crud, the guys at the bottom are. Why don’t you go give them your opinion?
]]>By: Diogeneshttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1490717
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 14:37:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1490717 I don’t care if you only make me do it once, I’m still gonna suit up like Carl Spackler cleaning the pool at Bushwood.
]]>By: Diogeneshttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1490711
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 14:35:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1490711 So give them your phone number and you can do it for half the price.
]]>By: Diogeneshttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1490709
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 14:34:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1490709There’s a One Percenter reply if I ever saw one.

Because there’s a never-ending supply of impoverished people willing to clean up after you, you assume they must all be living to a ripe old age. You don’t consider the possibility that they’re dying like flies, and are replaced by their orphaned children, or the impoverished children of others. Roll down the window of your car and get a sniff of the real world.

]]>By: Jack Arnoldhttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1490631
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 12:45:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1490631But it is illegal to supply public toilettes unless they are wheel chair accessable so……NO public toilettes!
]]>By: Eric Hunthttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1490614
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 11:58:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1490614 I’m pretty sure that SF made all those fancy toilets free a few years ago.
]]>By: Eric Hunthttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1490612
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 11:56:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1490612 The Starbucks in SF won’t give you the code or key to the bathroom without a purchase.
]]>By: UhhhClemhttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1490530
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 07:43:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1490530Man, it sure is a good thing we don’t waste public funds on the mentally ill in California any more.
]]>By: Gyrofroghttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1490486
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 05:39:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1490486 “…and thank you for riding your Metrorail.”
]]>By: Gimlet_eyehttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1490473
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 04:57:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1490473Oh, in California we take it way beyond rational. When Caltrans crews discover urine-filled bottles along highways, they call for a hazmat team at a cost of about $2,500 per trip. No wonder the state is broke.http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/HazMat-teams-pick-up-urine-jars-along-roads-2569569.php
]]>By: ocschwarhttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1490358
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 02:09:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1490358Escalators are a terrible kludge. Even under the best of circumstances they are prone to breakdown.
]]>By: ocschwarhttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1490355
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 02:08:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1490355Part of the issue is that the bathrooms are large enough for the disabled to use, which makes them large enough for sex. Paris solved that problem. Most of the bathrooms are too small for that kind of thing, and the handicap accessible ones are ONLY accessible by the handicapped (they get issued keys).
]]>By: SomeGuyNamedMarkhttp://boingboing.net/2012/07/26/bart-escalators-caked-in-human.html#comment-1490322
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 01:44:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=173309#comment-1490322 Done!
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